The World's Most Successful Drop Outs

Yesterday we argued that if Obama really wanted to help today’s students he would have counseled them against buying into the myth that graduating from college equals educational success.

Unfortunately, our culture continues to place a huge premium on a college degree. Parents and teachers can seldom imagine other possibilities, especially for the intelligent. Employers lazily use college degrees as a cheap way of screening job candidates. Socially, people who don’t go to college are often regarded as weirdos.

The only way to overcome the college bias will be the widespread perception that many of our society’s most successful people do not have a college degree and don't care about those who do.

Eventually, the economic inefficiency of the college bias will be overcome by economic reality. But, until then, we might be able to make progress by reflecting on the individuals who dropped out and still made it.